10 things

• I baked some strawberry buns with lemon buttercream icing - just because I'd spotted the Cadbury's mini eggs in the supermarket and thought some little buns with mini eggs on top were just what I needed to bake to celebrate the arrival of spring.

• As well as mini eggs we have many large hen's eggs at the minute.  Bertha, Adelaide and Ethel are all laying an egg a day, and 8 year old Queenie is thinking about laying again (8 years old is an epic age for a hen).

• Cam sits his first two GCSE papers on the same day in May as Olivia's Year 6 SATS test; and later that same evening, Olivia is playing in a music festival.  I have written it all in the calendar and am trying not to think too much about the collective stress levels that day.
• Cam then has a three and a half week gap before he sits his final paper.  GCSE timetables are insane.
• My geraniums loved the mild, wet winter and are all blooming again.
• Working in A&E has been by far the best part of my course.  I have loved every, single minute of it and am so sad it comes to an end next week.  I have arranged to go back for another 5 week placement this autumn.
• When I work a long day shift, Olivia stays up so that she can ask me, as soon as I walk through the door, "What were your most exciting patients today? Did the helicopter bring in anything dramatic?" - she's all about the blood and guts, this one. 

• I have re-arranged the bookshelves downstairs, and am slightly startled to note that I have five whole shelves of cookery books.  I always considered myself to be very picky about which cookbooks I own; only the really good ones, which I use regularly, are bought.  Turns out there are more great cookbooks out there than I realised.

• I am knitting myself a pinky-orangey-red beanie hat.  I anticipate this being worn very often.
• I am no longer the tallest in the family.  Cam has overtaken me.

10 things

Bulrushes in Dulwich Park

• I met up with a friend in Dulwich.  We went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the Whistler exhibition.  I loved the pictures in the exhibition - the detailed prints and etchings of life alongside the river were my favourites.  It is only on for a few more days, but well worth a visit if you are in the area.
• I had never been to Dulwich before.  It is a very pretty part of London, with a delightful park to wander around.
• Yesterday, I went up to Cambridge to see my sister and her small daughter, who is nearly two.  I spent a wonderful morning reading books, building duplo, sorting Postman Pat's letters and cooking play food.  My sister, who is due to give birth to her second child any day now, had a chance to put her feet up and do a little bit of cooking.  When she thanked me, as I left, for coming to visit I was instantly transported back eleven years when I had two small children and my sister, who was only about twenty at the time, would come to see me and spend hours just sitting on the floor with Cam and Olivia, building train tracks, playing, cuddling and reading books.  I had forgotten what a wonderful thing that was: adult company for me, and an adored entertainer for the children.  It's a good feeling to be able to return the favour for her.

  

  Small niece, looking at books

• In between visits to Dulwich and Cambridge, I have been studying pharmacology for an exam I have coming up later this term.  I find pharmacology really interesting but incredibly difficult to learn.
• Olivia was back at school for less than three days and she already had two birthday parties and a sleepover lined up for this weekend.
• I have had a great many turnips in my veg box the past few weeks.  I am rather enjoying them, although it can be a struggle to find many recipes for them as they are seen as quite an unusual vegetable these days.  I ate one raw and discovered that it tastes very like a radish.  Who knew?
• I baked an apple and almond loaf cake - it looks plain but tastes delicious.  I rather like cakes that do that - they seem quite classy and sophisticated.



A very pleasing new biscuit tin

• I have a self imposed tradition of acquiring a new biscuit tin each Christmas, which then becomes a new cake tin once all the biscuits have been eaten.  M and S is usually the best source for beautiful tins at Christmas, and this year's did not disappoint.
• I have read a run of really good books lately: The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham, The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) were both gobbled up in a few days and I am now on The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, which is another excellent read. 
• The cowl I knitted from leftover sock yarn has proved to be very disappointing.  It looks pretty but rolls up into a fat sausage whenever I wear it.  I think I probably should have used a thicker yarn, used a different stitch, and made it longer.  I shall go back to my default setting of knitting socks and shawls.

My newly finished cowl...

In its default setting - rolled up...

~~~~~~~~~~

     I was very kindly awarded a Versatile Blogger award by Phoebe at The Stylish Baker. Thank you, Phoebe!  Having blogged for nearly seven years there can't be that many more interesting things left to find out about me, so I have gone with my usual ten current things instead.  If you haven't come across Phoebe's blog already, do go and have a look.  Her Twelve Days of Christmas Baking had my mouth watering all December, and I made the 30 Minute Soft Pretzels as soon as I read the recipe - they were utterly delicious.

Knitting oddments

I am crazy about knitting at the moment - I think because it's an easy bit of creativity to fit in whenever I can: sitting at ballet waiting for Olivia, for half an hour in the late evening before I collapse into bed, for twenty minutes during my break at work.  I love knitting for its pick-up-put-down qualities.  Little by little it grows no matter how busy I am.

At the beginning of this week I finished a slouchy beanie hat made from sock yarn, and almost immediately felt bereft and cast on something new.  Holding the tiny little ball of yarn I had left over from the hat, I was reminded of this shawl which I knit eighteen months ago and wear constantly.  I obviously use more sock yarn than I realised because since I finished the shawl, I have once again built up enough yarn oddments to make something with them.  This time I've decided to make a simple cowl.  I just cast on 160 stitches on 3.25mm dpns, did a few rows of alternating knit and purl to stop the bottom edge from curling, and then switched to stocking stitch.  I'll keep going until I run out of little balls of yarn.  Easy, mindless knitting - with the added excitement of not being quite sure how it will look when it's finished.

Warm hands

Earlier this week, I ran for the first time in my winter running top.  I love the thumb hole so much and came back home wondering why manufacturers and knitters don't make thumb holes in every single garment.  It makes the top so much more cosy to wear.

And then yesterday I remembered my armwarmers, which also have thumb holes.  There's now no need to hack at my clothes, or spend the winter in running gear.  Problem solved.

 

Knitting punctuation

My photostream is punctuated with knitting at the moment.
  

There are so many good, big, things going on at the moment: birthdays, visits from small cousins, exams and essays (not just for me), high school open evenings and open mornings, meet-ups with grandparents and plans for my next placement.  And in between all these important things, I knit a row here and there, cast on, rummage through patterns and consider yarn choices.  I can lose myself in knitting more and more as I get better at it; and the ability to switch off, take some time for myself and be creative is so important for my mental health and general outlook on life.



Before I started my nursing degree, I rarely considered my emotional wellbeing - but now I am mindful of the very great stresses of the profession I am going into, as well as the more obvious stresses right now of a full-time degree, two children, four chickens and a husband trying to valiantly pick up all the pieces.  I also come across so many issues to do with people's every day mental health and wellbeing during my training.
  

I now consciously try to incorporate activities into my life which make me stop, think, slow down and enjoy things.  Running is great, walking as much as I can is very good too.  Photography (just snaps on my phone) is a great tool for observing the smaller, prettier, more interesting things about my day.

And knitting.  The soft squidge of the wool is so therapeutic.  The sense of accomplishment is enormous.  The colours and textures of what comes off the needles is both interesting and pleasing.

I'm not talking here about resolving serious mental health conditions by knitting and taking photos - mental health issues need trained nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals to treat them properly.  But rather, it is about everyday mental wellbeing.  So much is spoken about a healthy lifestyle in terms of stopping smoking, eating well, keeping your heart healthy, or your joints in good condition - but keeping your mind healthy is not discussed or promoted as much.

The NHS Choices website has a good basic article about 5 steps to mental wellbeing, and The Mental Health Foundation has some popular, free wellbeing podcasts as well as a good article on 10 ways everybody can look after their mental health.  They don't mention the healing power of squidging lots of balls of wool, but they still have some pretty good advice and tips.

What about you?  Is knitting the key to your mental wellbeing?  Do you consider your mental health alongside your physical health?  How do you switch off and look after yourself?

The sock spring

I sat outside in the sunshine, on the last day of my holidays.  I finished knitting one pair of socks, and started another pair.

 

I reflected on a great day spent with my sister yesterday, and then a lovely phone call with my brother.  It doesn't take much to keep me happy - socks, siblings and some sunshine. 

It feels as though spring finally came to East London today.

Winter fairisle hat

The temperature, even in inner London, was minus two at half-past eight this morning when I took Olivia to school.  If I'd been working I would have left the house at ten past six, when I suspect it would have been even colder.  It is even getting a little bit too cold for my liking now.

But of course the redeeming feature of this teeth-shuddering weather is that I can layer myself up in shawls, hats and armwarmers until I look like a woolen Mrs Tiggywinkle.  Last night I came home from work to find a parcel from my Mum containing the most wonderful hat which she had knitted for me.

Tired eyes, happy smile, new hat.

It is a slouchy fairisle beanie hat, knitted from Kate Davies's Tantallon pattern, with a few size modifications.  You can see all the details on my Mum's Ravelry page, here.  The extra rows make it more of a slouchy shape, which I love.  It is incredibly warm, and comfortable, and I don't think you're going to see me wearing anything else on my head for a very long time.

I bought Mum Kate Davies's new book, The Colours of Shetland, for Christmas.  I love every single pattern in there, and even if you weren't going to knit anything from it, the book would be worth buying for the glorious photos alone.  I've not attempted any fairisle knitting myself yet.  It baffles me in the way that sock knitting once did; but I got the hang of that, and now love making socks, so perhaps it won't be too much longer before I give fairisle a go.

For now though, I need to curl up on the sofa with my new hat on, a shawl around my shoulders and a quilt over my knees and have a nap.  All this caring for other people is quite exhausting.

Embracing autumn

It's my very favourite time of year, but this time round I've barely been outside to enjoy it.  This weekend I fixed that, and headed out with Graham early on Sunday morning for a brisk walk through Epping Forest.

 

The colours, the wind, the chill, the colours, the damp smells, the leaves, the colours - they're all still there.

 

 

I breathed deeply, turned my face towards the sky and my camera towards the colours.

 

 

I came back home and knit a few more rows of my autumn hurricane hat.  Then without realising it, the hat was finished.  I feel like this hat knitted itself without me really noticing.  Surely the sign of a good pattern?

 

This means I now need to go back to the forest and photograph my hat (and my autumnal scarf) amongst the leaves.  Maybe this weekend.  Autumn's nearly over, and I've barely noticed it.

10 things

• The University is a 7 minute walk from Loop.
• I have been running errands to Loop for my Mum.  She needs some nice projects to knit whiles he recuperates from a second hip replacement operation.  Nice projects need nice yarn.  Loop has verrrrrrry nice yarns.
• Mostly I have been terribly well-behaved and just bought what Mum wanted, but yesterday my resolve crumbled and I bought myself a skein of Malabrigo Worsted in  the Rhodesian colourway - a wonderful burnished orange - to make myself an autumn hat.

• I don't really have time to knit, as I am too busy practising my aseptic technique, writing biology notes and submitting my first essay.
• My first essay in eighteen years.
• That makes me feel even older than saying 'my son is thirteen'.
• Olivia has decorated the chimney breast in the kitchen with A5 sized manga portraits of everyone in the family.  It looks wonderful.

• Some of the likenesses are uncanny - Uncle Richard and Granny are particularly good.

• I am still cooking - almost as much as I did before I started my nursing qualifications.  I am still baking all our bread, and making yogurt, and making midweek suppers and packed lunches.  Olivia's doing most of the baking though, and Graham is cooking on weekends.
• It is not easy to let other people have their turn in the kitchen.  Doing the cooking is what I do best.

Maintaining creativity

Despite the full-time (and over-time, really) study around here these days, I'm still determined to keep some creativity in my life.  It's very hard though.  I come in late, talk to the children, help with their homework and wish with all my heart that someone else was making dinner - I don't feel like pottering in the kitchen when I've been doing urine tests and drawing bacteria all day.  The early evening in the kitchen is no longer a creative part of my day. I absently stand at the stove, thinking of biology or planning essays in my head and not really caring so much what sort of soup I'm making.

But late last night I finished knitting a sock, and today I had a morning at home learning the cardiovascular system, so I took five minutes out of my studies to photograph it in the sunshine.  This sock grew really fast until I started University, and since then it's only grown a couple of rows at a time.  I knit for ten minutes at a time, late in the evening after I've finished studying, maybe once every few days. 

New sock (l) and very old sock (r)

So I know this sock is going to be without its other half for many months to come, but just imagine the sense of accomplishment I will feel when it's done!

The other outlet for my creativity is colouring pencils.  With so much anatomy and biology to learn, I find it easiest to take in the information by drawing and colouring.  Yesterday, it was mitosis and today it has been the directional flow of blood through the heart.

 

I think my anatomy and biology notebook is going to be the most colourful one on campus.

The French spring green shawl

Yesterday evening, as the temperature hovered somewhere around 29 degrees, I finished knitting this very thick, heavy, textured shawl. 

I have called it my French spring green shawl, because I bought the yarn in France at Easter (and wrote about it here) just as the vivid green oak leaves in Tarn-et-Garonne were coming out.  I used all the yarn I had, and have a sumptuous shawl for my shoulders now.  I love it.

All the details on Ravelry, here.

Sunday evening

By Sunday evening I'm reflecting on a full and happy weekend. 

I made cheese scones for supper, and we dunked them into bowls of hot tomato soup. Then I curled up on the sofa for some relaxation:

• knitting (this shawl, progressing well)
• a stack of magazines
• The Archers
• a few squares of one of my favourite chocolates
• a large mug of Sunshine Grey tea.

All is well.

View from the sofa - Sunday evening

Spring greens

It is raining outside.  A constant drip-drip-drip for pretty much the past ten days.  Living in East London this is a novelty because we haven't had any significant rainfall all winter, and we are now officially in drought.  I am rather excited about the rain, because I haven't seen it for so long.

The garden is green and lush - I'm not allowed to use a hosepipe any more because of the water shortage, but I don't need to at the moment.  I've been buying geraniums, herbs and lavenders for the garden, and potting them up a few at a time, when the rain eases to a drizzle.  The vivid pinks of the geranium flowers, mixed in with the bright, wet greens of all the grass and shrubbery, is very pleasing to the eye.

And when the rain gets too heavy, I come back inside and pick up my knitting, which is in the same shade of vivid spring green. 

French spring green shawl

I am knitting myself another shawl from this pattern, but instead of the multicoloured sock yarn version I did last time, I am making this one from a green linen and wool handspun yarn that I bought with Mum in France over Easter. 

Walking through Bruniquel to the castle.  We filled Mum's basket with yarn.

A poster for Bruniquel's textile fair

We heard that there was a textile fair at a local castle, and went along on a cool, wet day much like today, not really knowing what to expect.  What we found was the most amazing selection of hand spun and hand dyed yarns and knitted and felted garments from right across the South of France.  Mum dived in to the mohairs, alpacas and angoras, and I was captivated by the linen blends and the bright colours.  We filled Mum's basket with yarn - a modest three skeins each - and came home with hastily scribbled notes about needle size and yarn blends stuffed into our pockets.

The colour of this green yarn was exactly the same shade as the new oak leaves bursting forth in the French forests while we were there, and now it is the exact same shade as the geranium leaves in London.  Perfect.

The multicoloured sock yarn shawl

I have finished knitting a shawl that is both wild and crazy in colour, and wonderfully warm and cozy.  Comforting and lively in equal measure.  These contrasts really make me smile.

I love the old-fashioned charm of shawls, and I love the wrapped-up, comforting feeling I get when wearing one.  Wearing a shawl is like wearing a hug.  It is the time of year - almost - where I can put my coat away and grab a shawl instead when I nip to the corner shop, or walk to the school to pick up O.

This one is made from all the leftover ends of sock yarn that I had.  It is a reminder of all the things I have ever knitted from sock yarn - that is four pairs of socks, three baby kicking bags and a shawlette.  It has every colour you could think of in it, apart from black (I don't like black, and never wear it if I can help it).  Pink, red, sky blue, brown, purple, white, orange, navy blue, green, yellow, grey, turquoise, lilac - they're all here.

I decided not to plan in which order I used the yarns.  I just went with whichever ball I picked up next.  The result is nicely random and a little bit mad.  The pattern was a very simple, free one from Ravelry - it needed to be simple with all this colour jumping around.  I just kept going until I had used all the yarn, and it turned out just the right size.  Clearly it was meant to be.

Technical details on Ravelry, here.

Delightful dilemma

Which is cuter and more strokeable?

My new niece's sweet little tummy, kept warm in a tank top knitted by her Auntie Nancy?

Or her little feet, waving around vigorously, and kept toasty in tiny cashmerino socks also knitted by her Auntie Nancy?

I couldn't decide.

New things

Short hair

Yesterday was full of new things:

• a new haircut (I had a whopping 25cm cut off),
• a new mustard-yellow hat,
• and a new little niece. 

All these things are making me very happy indeed.

Mustard-yellow hat

I looked away...and when I came back it was nearly the end of winter

Today we start the last month of winter, and as if by magic it feels as though spring is nearly here.  Every year the lengthening of the days takes me completely by surprise.  I look out of the window one late afternoon at the beginning of February, and realise that it is still light outside.  When did that happen?

The view from the sitting room window - 5pm today

It makes me a little sad, because I love winter very much.  I feel more alive and energised in winter, and I drive G mad by flinging open windows, wittering on about how wonderful it is to feel the bracing wind on your cheeks, and enthusing about knitting and woollen garments.

Spring leaf cowl

I have added another winter woollen to my collection today.  This green leaf cowl is the perfect end-of-winter-start-of-spring item.  The glorious acid green reminds me of new spring shoots, and it has an abstract pattern of leaves winding up it.  It was a very quick knit - and should you wish, you can see the full geeky details on Ravelry here.

But my goodness, it's cold enough here in London to need to add woollen things to your neck both indoors and outdoors.

This is me at about 10 o'clock this morning, burrowing into my new cowl to try and stay warm.  By lunchtime I'd added a shawl, a hat, some armwarmers and two pairs of socks to my outfit. I looked like Mrs Tiggywinkle, so I gave in, turned the central heating on and removed a couple of layers.

The days are getting a little longer, but the temperatures are still thoroughly wintry.  This makes me very happy - winter still has a while to go after all.  Now that the cowl is finished I'm turning my knitting attentions back to the sock yarn shawl, which is now so big that it takes me over twenty minutes to knit a row.  I am wondering if it will be ready for its first wear in winter or spring?